Is it possible that after all that
trial and all that deliberation the judge is going to upset it again
and have the long trouble gone over. The judge denies the motion or
takes it under advisement. Only on rare occasions does he set the
verdict aside then and there. The verdict must have been outrageous,
absurd, clearly a compromise, or absolutely and shockingly against
common sense. The theory of the law is that the verdict of a jury is a
final judgment on the facts by the best judges of the facts. It will
not lightly or for small reasons be interfered with.
The question of belief in the jury system is one of the most futile of
all large questions. In the first place, jury trial is so deeply
engraved in the constitutional bill of rights that one might as well
ask: "Do you believe in citizenship?" "Do you believe in the United
States of America?" Secondly, trial by jury is so completely involved
in the present system of court trial and procedure, that they are
inseparable. The evils of the whole attach to the part and the
beneficent aspect of the courts pertain equally to jury trials.
Coming down to a concrete case and leaving the abstract principle to
the theorist, there are certain obvious things to be said for and
against jury trial.
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